My Friday Five: A Dream Fulfilled, Space Jam Sequel & Blog Talk

5/06/2016

Photo: Chris White 1. A Film You'll Never See You're probably wondering what the heck this is all about. Well, as the Cannes ...

Photo: Chris White

1. A Film You'll Never See

You're probably wondering what the heck this is all about. Well, as the Cannes Film Festival is set to get underway this month, John Malkovich is touting his new film that's sure to wow audiences...100 years from now. That's right! The film, aptly titled 100 Years - The Movie You'll Never See, stars Malkovich and is directed by Robert Rodriguez, according to NME.com. As stated in a press release, the film will be locked away in a safe that will unlock in exactly 100 years.

I dunno fam. Part of me thinks this is a clever idea. The other part of me thinks this is a dumb one. What do you think? Drop me a line in the comments.

2. Space Jam Sequel - Yea, You Read That Right

File this one under "Just Leave Well Enough Alone." A Space Jam sequel is in the works and will star LeBron James. No this isn't a late April Fools Joke - unfortunately. Seriously, these Hollywood remakes and sequels are getting wayyyyy out of hand. My opinion may be a bit biased given the fact that I'm not a fan of LeBron. At all. But, let's be honest, the original Space Jam was just an okay film overall. Plus, it can't get any better than having the G.O.A.T., the greatest to ever play the game of basketball: Michael Jordan in the original film. Having a Space Jam film with LeBron is just strange to me. Go ahead and drop me a line in the comments with your thoughts on this one too.

3. A Dream Fulfilled

The 1983 N.C. State Men's Basketball team made history in route to the National Championship. The Pack took down powerhouse Houston and "Phi Slamma Jamma" on a last second dunk by Lorenzo Charles to take the title. But one thing has always eluded the '83 team: a visit with the President at the White House. According to a story on GoPack.com, a trip to D.C. wasn't always a given back then. N.C. State officials had planned the trip, with local news station WRAL offering to pay for it. But officials later realized that having WRAL pay for the trip would be a violation of NCAA rules, so head coach Jim Valvano went to the White House himself while the team had to settle for a satellite call.

This feeling of "unfinished business" has stayed with the team for 33 years. That is, until Thurl Bailey, a member of the team, did something about it. According to the story, Bailey wrote his friend, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, who then wrote to President Obama. A short time later, the team received an invite to the White House. The '83 Pack team will visit on May 9 and it'll be an awesome thing to see! Look for a follow up next week.

4. Hamilton Makes History

Tony Award nominations were just announced and Lin-Manuel Miranda's smash hit Broadway musical, Hamilton, made history by taking a whopping 16 of them. What makes this even more impressive, according to Steven Zeitchick of the L.A. Times, is previous nominations record holder Billy Elliot reached 15 with the help of sound design, a category that has since been taken out of the awards ceremony. The record for Tony Award wins is 12, set by The Producers, and I have no doubt in my mind that Hamilton just may break that record as well. I'll definitely be tuning in on June 12 to see if the record will be broken.

5. My Blog

Several months ago, I began a conversation regarding my blog and the possibility of ditching the .blogspot.com part for a custom domain. But now I've been thinking of something else. My ultimate goal is to have a centralized site that features my bio, blog and professional portfolio. Some website builders I've looked at, like Wix and Weebly, are nice but don't support importing content directly from a Blogger blog. I have way too much invested in this blog to start over from scratch. Wordpress, where my portfolio currently resides, is okay but I've never been a big fan of its functionality. Of course, there's Squarespace which has everything I need. Incredible templates and even a tool that automatically imports all content from a Blogger blog. However, the perks come at a price. A pretty steep one at that. A custom domain via Squarespace would be $20/year after the first year and the service itself would be an additional $124/year.

What it all boils down to is do I want to invest that much in a personal site/blog/portfolio? On one hand, I'm proud to showcase my work I've accomplished on my blog and in my professional career. On the other, the financial aspect is a key player. 2016 has been a year full of transition. Looks like I'm adding this to the list. If you know of any alternatives to the above that I've missed, please let me know!